150 SALMON FISHING 



pass up to the higher reaches earlier in the season 

 than was possible formerly. When fish come beyond 

 the tidal water in September and October a great 

 many are so heavy and lazy that they cannot run 

 far, and content themselves with spawning in the 

 first gravel beds they reach. These beds are, as a 

 rule, exposed to the heavy floods, and a great quantity 

 of the ova must be washed away. As a proof that 

 the stock of salmon is not diminishing, I may state 

 that last season, 1905, the Tay Syndicate nets caught 

 considerably more than double the number of fish 

 that were recorded in their books five years ago. 

 The spring fishing in these parts is certainly better 

 than it used to be. This I attribute partly to the 

 fact of fish now getting up the river to the spawning 

 grounds earlier in the season. It is, I think, reason- 

 able to expect that the progeny of early-spawning 

 fish may be inclined the same way as their parents." 



Mr. P. D. Malloch, tenant of Lord Ancaster's 

 stretch at Stobhall, is highly optimistic. As he is 

 almost constantly on the river, which he knows from 

 the source to the sea, his judgment is especially 

 important. Mr. Malloch writes : 



" During the last five years sport on the Tay and 

 its tributaries has increased at least 100 per cent. 

 The causes are the removal of nets, the making of 

 the hang and toot and hall nets illegal, the curtail- 

 ing of the nets for six days in the autumn, and the 

 control of the nets having been given almost entirely 

 into the hands of the Tay Salmon Fishing Company. 

 Apart from the increase of sport, there are from 



